Xavier Battle, 7, who was riding his bike Tuesday night when he was struck by a suspected drunken driver, is in stable condition at Gillette Children's Specialty Hospital in St. Paul. (Photo courtesy KMSP-TV)

A St. Paul police officer on patrol with his window rolled down Tuesday night heard a mother's scream: "You hit my baby!"

The officer followed the sound and found that a vehicle had struck a 7-year-old bicyclist and that the driver had left the scene, Sgt. Paul Paulos, police spokesman, said Wednesday. The boy's injuries weren't life-threatening.

The boy's mother described the sport utility vehicle to the officer, who quickly stopped a vehicle matching the description.

Police arrested Kristina Boraka-Rene Jackson, 39, of St. Paul on suspicion of criminal vehicle operation. A preliminary breath test showed her blood-alcohol concentration was 0.23, almost three times the 0.08 legal limit to drive in Minnesota, Paulos said.

The boy, Xavier Henry Battle Jr., was struck outside his home in the area of Bedford Street and Payne Avenue about 7:50 p.m. Tuesday, Paulos said. After he'd gone to ride his bike with his mother's permission, she "heard a big crash" and looked out her window, he said.

Xavier's mother saw her son underneath a vehicle that had hit him, Paulos said. The driver, later identified as Jackson, exited her Dodge Durango, walked around it, got back in and drove off, he said.

Police reports didn't indicate whether she saw the child under the vehicle, Paulos said, but he said he thought "she must have felt she hit something."

Jackson was arrested about a half-mile away at Payne Avenue and Phalen Boulevard.

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Blood was drawn from Jackson for a definitive blood-alcohol test. Police had not yet presented a case to the Ramsey County attorney's office to review for charges as of Wednesday afternoon.

St. Paul fire paramedics took Xavier to the hospital. He was listed in fair condition Wednesday at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare. He had scrapes on his head, knees and forearms from being dragged about 10 feet, Paulos said.

The boy had a deep gash to the back of his head, pulled ligaments in his neck and a hairline fracture to one of his vertebrae, according to his stepfather, Michael Bradford. The gash required 40 stitches, Bradford said, adding that Xavier will have to wear a neck brace temporarily when he gets out of the hospital in a few days.

"I don't think he really understands what's happened," Bradford said of Xavier. "He is trying to be a big boy about the whole situation."

More than angry, Bradford said, he is filled with questions about why someone would make such a reckless decision.

"I'd like to know what made her think it was OK to drive... this shouldn't have to happen to anybody's kid," Bradford said.

The family is grateful that Xavier is expected to make a full recovery.

"It could have been worse. You just thank God it wasn't as bad as it could have been," Bradford said.

Xavier and his 2-year old brother were supposed to accompany their grandmother to Chicago on Wednesday for the rest of their summer break. Those plans are delayed with the boy hospitalized, Bradford said.

"It's sad not having him around and knowing he's at the hospital. ... It's just a bad feeling about the whole situation," Bradford said.

Paulos credited the fast action of police in apprehending the driver.

He used the crash as a chance to urge people not to drink and drive. He also said that if drivers think they have hit something, they should pull over and stay at the scene. Paulos mentioned the Amy Senser case and a recent Minneapolis incident.

"You're going to get in much worse trouble if you do leave the scene. ... That's why they're called accidents," he said.

Senser, the wife of former Minnesota Viking and restaurateur Joe Senser, is serving a three-year, five-month prison sentence for criminal vehicular homicide. In 2011, she struck and killed Anousone Phanthavong, 38, of Roseville and left the scene in Minneapolis.

On Tuesday, the Hennepin County attorney's office charged Abdirahman Abdi Ali, 24, with criminal vehicular homicide in the Friday death of a bicyclist in Minneapolis. He is accused of speeding through a stop sign with his car's headlights off, running over Jessica Hanson, 24, and driving away.